Is it time to buy from China?

It’s the big question: is now the time to buy from China?
We’ve heard for years now about China being the production plant of the world, churning out millions of items every month for sale all over the globe. Then came the controversies over Chinese safety and a slew of anti-buy from China campaigns. Now we have the credit crunch and predictions of a worldwide recession. But will that vast, mysterious country of the East manage to buck the economic trends? With U.S. and European manufacturers failing, is now, truly, the time to buy from China?
We believe it is, and have 5 compelling reasons why 2009 onwards could be the best time to buy from China.

buy from China reason No. 1: Oil Is Coming Down
Even China isn’t insulated from the effects of worldwide oil prices, and the all-time high prices earlier in 2008 really hit Asian economies hard. All of a sudden, Beijing didn’t want other countries to buy from China, as it needed all the goods for itself!
But since prices dipped below the $100 a barrel mark in late 2008, Chinese manufacturers can once again fire up the factories and start shipping goods for export.

buy from China reason No. 2: The Locals Are Happy
A survey in the summer of 2008 from the Pew Research Center showed that most Chinese feel positive about where their country is headed. According to the survey, 86% are "content with the country's direction." That's up from just 25% six years ago.
With the Chinese happy with their lives and increasingly looking for high-quality luxury goods, the production and quality of items for export will increase too.

buy from China reason No. 3: Chinese expertise is growing
For a long time, China was seen as the world's source for low-tech goods. Chinese factories were known more for T-shirts, sneakers and cheap plastic toys than items of real value...
That's all changing now as China moves up the technology food chain. Now China is producing some of the most sophisticated high-tech devices in the world. In fact, we’re already seeing shoppers voting with their wallets…

buy from China reason No. 4: The “fakes” are better than the real thing
When Korean company LG released their Chocolate branded phones in China back in 2006, the locals weren’t interested. The reason? They thought the phones were fake! That’s because for months beforehand, Chinese fake LG phones had flooded the market, and their quality was considered significantly better than the real thing.
This example seeks to prove that Chinese manufacturers are now producing very high quality items. With increasingly strong intellectual property rights laws coming from Beijing, we can expect Chinese home-brands to start competing with global electronics brands on the same footing, matching them for quality and beating them on price.

buy from China reason No. 5: China’s rich
In terms of “monies in” and “monies out”, China is really, really, rich.
Most of this money is firmly in the government’s pockets and a rich elite, but what this means is that if China has to take extra steps to keep economic growth on track or keep the domestic demand side humming, it certainly won't be stymied by lack of funds. Unlike in other countries around the world, we shouldn’t expect to see too many Chinese manufacturers go belly up in the coming years. And that means that it’ll become safer and safer to buy from China.